NFM eagles have a new brood

January 3, 2018

The first egg, dubbed E10, pipped early last Tuesday morning around 8 a.m., with it being fully visible at 8:33 a.m. Twelve hours later, at 8:54 p.m., it hatched, 37 days after being laid.

The second egg, E11, pipped at around 3:21 p.m. last Tuesday and hatched at 4:25 p.m. last Wednesday, practically spot on the 35-day incubation period.

Article Photos

Photo courtesy of the SouthwestFloridaEagleCam and www.SWFLEagleCam.com

Andy Pritchett, operator of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, said it usually takes between 24 and 48 hours for the eaglets to hatch after pipping. He said E10's hatching was the quickest he had seen.

"For it to pip in 12 hours, that was more accelerated than anyone expected. Things are picking up and people are excited because there's a bobblehead in the nest," Andy said.

Ginnie Pritchett of Pritchett Realty said, just like Christmas, it's the most wonderful time of the year, with the fact that the hatchings usually happen around that time making it sweeter.

"We're really excited. It's the pinnacle of the season for us because everyone is excited about the guys in the nest," she said. "People love to tune in and see it."

People began to head over to the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam web site on Christmas Eve to view the progress of the hatchings as the due date came and went.

E10's pip finally came Tuesday morning. At 2 p.m., the eagle cam gave viewers a good look at the egg tooth and the tiny hole the eaglet produced. At 3:21 p.m., the camera gave a close-up view at the small crack on E11's shell before M15 went back to incubate the eggs.

Traffic on the website, which has been around 3,000 under normal circumstances, nearly quadrupled by mid-afternoon and was expected to climb much higher as the hatching approached.

Viewership held steady at about 10,000 on Thursday

Last year as many as 75,000 viewers tuned in at once, thanks to coverage by national news outlets, Pritchett said.

Harriet laid her eggs on Nov. 19 and Nov. 22, respectively, both in the mid to late afternoon.

Harriet and M15 took turns incubating their young by maintaining the necessary 105 degrees temperature the embryos need.

With the eggs having hatched less than 20 hours apart (E10's hatching was a little overdue while E11's was on schedule), Pritchett said it will allow the siblings to be on an even playing field, which should help subside the sibling rivalry.

"Things should be tamer because if one eaglet is bigger than the other it can get pretty violent and it gets people upset," Pritchett said. "It's all part of the process of development.

In the past people have complained about seeing the violence and even death in the nest.

Ginnie Pritchett said even the disturbing parts of growing up are shown, so watch at your own leisure and risk.

Since its inception in September 2012, the SWFEC has received more than 115 million views from more than 190 different countries worldwide.